The Cactus and the ManBoy
by Springleigh
Summary: You wouldn't expect a Man-Boy to fall in love with a Cactus would you? Continues off of 1x20. Rated T just to be safe.
1. The Little Cactus That Could

**Disclaimer**: If I had any association with ABC Family I'd kick their asses for canceling 10 Things. Then I'd bring it back, make it an hour long, and never effing end it. :)

**Pairing**: Kat/Patrick...duh. ;)

**Summary**: You wouldn't expect a Man-Boy to fall in love with a Cactus would you?

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**"The Cactus and The Man-Boy"**

**Chapter 1**

*The Little Cactus That Could*

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This _had_ to be a dream. No, this had to be a _nightmare_. Too many thoughts ran through Kat's head as the boy who had just promised to never break her heart mere minutes ago was being stared down like a criminal.

_'He's gonna kill me.' _

_'Why didn't I lock the damn door!'_

_'Oh my God he's gonna kill Patrick.'_

_'Shit, shit, shit!'_

"He took advantage of you didn't he?" Kat was shaken from her thoughts as her father demanded to get the answer he wanted, "Didn't he!"

They were sitting in the living room, fully clothed, and although her father did not want them sitting together, Kat refused to leave Patrick's side. "No!" She found his hand and sqeezed it, reassuring him she didn't feel the same way her father did. "He'd never take advantage of me!"

Walter scoffed.

Patrick spoke up, "Sir.."

"Shut up, Man-Boy, I don't want to hear a damn word out of you!" Walter shouted, pointing to the door, "Infact, get out of my house!"

Patrick glanced at Kat and she returned the nervous look. "Get out!" Walter shouted again.

When he stood up, kat grabbed his hand one last time giving him a look that said she didn't hate him despite the fact that her father did. He gave her a look that said he understood and walked out the door.

"What the hell was that! ?" Kat demanded, beginning to stand up.

Her father simply pointed and glared at her, "You sit down young lady, you sit down _right_ now!"

She took a seat and prepared for her sentence; which included this current lecture.

Instead of the expected yelling, Walter took a seat across from Kat and sighed, "I thought we talked about this Katarina...I thought.." he paused and shook his head, "What happened to you being my strong little cactus?"

"I'm not your cactus, damnit!" Kat shouted, "I _hate_ being called a cactus! Since Mom died I've always been 'the cactus'," she emphasized with exasperated quotation marks with her fingers, "do you know how much pressure that puts on me, Dad? !"

Her Dad was taken aback with his daughters outburst. When he tried to reply she obliviously continued.

" _'Oh Kat, the good daughter.' 'Kat does nothing wrong.' 'Kat's so _perfect_'_..." She mocked, dubbing the statements with exasperated imitations, and cringing at the last word. She looked at her dad with pleading eyes, "I _don't want to be_ a cactus anymore."

She sighed in exhaustion and waited for her father's harsh reply.

"I'm sorry Kat." She could tell his apology was sincere. His eyes shifted with guilt, "I didn't realize it was making you feel this way..." He paused and his regular shocked expression returned, "But you didn't have to have sex to get my attention!"

Kat growled, "Dad! I had sex because I _wanted_ to, not as a cry for help."

Walter pulled another excuse out of his ass, "Oh yeah, and what about Man-Boy, are you sure he didn't force himself on you? Because he certainly has the muscles to do so."

"First of all, "Man-Boy" has a name. It's Patrick. Second of all, he didn't and wouldn't force himself on me. And third of all," Kat tried to lighten the mood, "Yes, he_ does _have the muscles to do so, very nice muscles..."

"Katarina!" He shouted.

She wiped the dreamy look off her face, "What! You're making this into such a big deal! Teenagers have sex all the time!"

"Not my kids!" Walter shook his head and continued, "I don't think you understand the ramifications of sex, therefore you arent...weren't ready."

"Patrick and I got tested, they came out clear. We used protection, nothing broke, we made sure of it. We both made sure we were ready for this." She tried to keep her voice calm.

Her father looked as though he was proud that she had done all of that, more than the normal teenager would have done. Any other teenager would have done it without thinking. Not his Kat. He shook his head, getting back into 'angry Dad' mode. "I don't care. You're grounded. Your door comes off tomorrow. You're restricted to school and home. I'm taking your car, and no more Man-Boy!"

"For how long! ?" She pleaded.

Walter began exiting the room, "UNDETERMINED!"

"What!" Kat got up and tried following her father, but he slammed the study door before she could get any closer.

Kat huffed and stormed upstairs. She couldn't remember a time in her life that she felt this angry. She felt pathetic, stupid, and silly. She was _Kat Stratford_, she wasn't supposed to feel this way. But when she entered her bedroom, slamming the door behind her, she didn't realize that Kat Stratford wasn't supposed to smile like a giddy school girl. She read the note that had been lying upon the rumpled sheets of the bed and smiled.

_"Meet me at my locker Monday." _

The scribbled lettering was obvious to Kat, and her smile grew when she noticed the little heart that was drawn under the words.

Five hours ago her car was being crapped on along with her ego, and a simple sign made her worries melt away. Five minutes ago her world was falling apart, but a simple note made everything better. For the moment she didn't care about her car, privacy interferences, or restrictions. All she cared about was him.

Kat smiled and laid down on the mass of crumpled sheets. She inhaled his smell and drifted off into a sound slumber.

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**A/N**: I'll write another chapter soon. I thought about not even posting my fics because of the cancellation, but to hell with it. I'll post them.

I found a quote on someone's music video about how they feel about the cancellation and I love it:

"Fuck you abcfamily, fuck you very much! You bastards." Yep, I like that **23chunkymonkey12**. :)

Anyway, reviews are lovely.


	2. The ManBoy Code

**A/N: **Sorry this took a while to update, I had a good reason though! I'm graduating from high school in 2 days, so that meant marching practice every. single. day. When I wasn't marching I was working after school from 3 to 9pm. And when I got home I could only keep my eyes open enough to write a little bit before falling asleep with my computer on my lap. I *hope* it doesn't take this long to update again. It shouldn't.

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**Chapter 2**

*The Man-Boy Code*

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Kat awoke to the sound of a drill. It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust, but when she saw where the noise was coming from, it all made sense. "Kat, get up, the bus will be here in 20 minutes." With that, her dad took the door and headed back down the stairs. He hadn't even looked at her.

She pulled herself up sighed. Although she still resented her father, a part of her couldn't help but wish they were at least on speaking terms. Over the weekend he had thought about lowering her punishment. That was until he found out she had ridden off into the sunset with Man-Boy yet again, leaving her car at the school under a landfill of garbage. After that, not a word was spoken between them.

Kat began to get ready for school when she realized what she would have to face at school that day. Her eventful weekend had covered the anxiety of having to face her fellow school mates. _'More like pissed off inmates,'_ she thought, remembering Patrick's clever description of the crapheads they suffered through school with. She had completely forgotten about the election and the fact that she had openly and shamelessly insulted them to their faces. It wasn't like she didn't _mean_ what she said, she just didn't _mean_ for the tape to somehow leave her home in Tabitha's hands. Biggest mistake ever for allowing that twit through the front door in the first place.

Her bus arrived at the school earlier than usual and Kat was ever so thankful for that. It gave her more time to enter the school unnoticed, which meant less debri would be thrown at her as she walked through the halls.

Kat knew Patrick didn't use his locker, but she knew which locker he was talking about. Luckily it was very close to where she would enter the building so she'd have to do less searching for him, which meant less debri would be thro...well you get the picture. She would most likely be a garbage can for the remainder of the school year and she wanted to avoid as much of the trash as possible.

Kat found Patrick standing at the locker, sifting through something inside. "You are one brave guy." She turned him around and laced her arms around his neck, "Sneaking back up to my room after my dad kicks you out." He found her hips and she smiled, "Nah, forget brave, you're crazy."

When Kat held pulled out the little note he caught on. In a sexy voice he replied, "Only crazy for you."

She smiled at the corny comment and smacked him on the arm playfully. Patrick smiled back and leaned in to kiss her. When his lips found hers she melted into his arms. Unintentionally of course. Cacti didn't welcome hugs, their prickly exosketeton ensured no one could or would ever get that close.

But Man-Boy was oblivious to the thorns.

After Patrick reluctantly broke the kiss, he looked at Kat up and down, lifting an arm here and there. She chuckled, backing away slightly, "What are you doing?"

He paused his exploration, "Making sure you're alright. After what happened this weekend I'm surprised you made it out of your house alive."

Kat glared at Patrick, the amused expression still there, "He's my dad, not a serial killer." A sad expression took over her happy one when she sighed, "Besides, I think I've recieved enough punishment from him anyway."

"How bad?" He asked, genuinely concerned.

Kat sighed, "My door came off, no car, restricted to school and home, and I got the silent treatment for the whole weekend."

Patrick cringed. "Sorry."

"Me too," she replied, "The only thing he didn't do was bolt my window, and I'd be thankful for that, but without a door, an open window serves no purpose."

Patrick made a hissing sound, "No more late night visits huh?"

"Guess not." Kat chose her reply carefully. She didn't want him to know his late night visits were becoming the highlight of her week. She looped her arm through his and pulled him along side her.

They began walking, "I should probably get to class. So far nothing's been thrown at me, but these kids are like ninja's, you can't see them but you know they're there," Kat shifted her eyes back and forth, "Somewhere..."

Patrick haulted, a puzzled expression on his face, "Who's been throwing what?"

Kat looked up at him and smiled, "Aw, are you worried about me?"

Psht, Man-Boy's were never supposed to worry about a woman. Hell, it was against the Man-Boy code to worry about _anything_. "Of course not. I'm worried about the poor sucker throwing things. Pretty soon he's gonna end up with a bruised face." He glanced at Kat, who had an eyebrow raised, "But I guess if you got hit I'd be pretty pissed too."

She chuckled, "Thanks." He laughed with her and walked her protectively to her homeroom.

This Man-boy was willing to bend the code for his Cactus, because you know how it goes. Once you've been pricked by a Cactus, it's hard to get them out from under your skin.

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**A/N**: So I know that was mainly focused on the locker scene, but I hope that was alright! :) I hope it wont take as long to update next time. I've just been really busy.

I was going to add "OOC" to my summary, because yeah, some of the things Kat and Patrick will do might be slightly out of character. But that was kind of my intention. I wanted Kat to feel as if she was becoming someone else, someone more like Bianca, and that's new for her. But I'm not making it too OOC so I decided to leave it out.

An old FanFiction friend had a story where she would give sneak peeks to certain people before she updated the fic. So I want to try the same thing. Today's contest is:

Any ideas on what happens next? Whoever is the closest will get a sneak peek of the next chapter emailed to them. ;)


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